QB Rodriguez continues McMurry's Maxfield connection

Thomas Metthe/Reporter-News
McMurry quarterback Gabe Rodriguez (16) looks for an open receiver during the third quarter of the War Hawks' 53-27 win on Saturday, Sept. 28, 2013, at McMurry's Wilford Moore Stadium.

Tommy Metthe/Abilene Reporter-News

Thomas Metthe/Reporter-News
McMurry quarterback Gabe Rodriguez (16) looks for a receiver during the second quarter of the War Hawks' 48-35 loss on Saturday, Oct. 5, 2013, at McMurry's Wilford Moore Stadium.

Tommy Metthe/Abilene Reporter-News

Thomas Metthe/Reporter-News
McMurry quarterback Gabe Rodriguez (16) throws a pass during the first quarter of the War Hawks' 48-35 loss on Saturday, Oct. 5, 2013, at McMurry's Wilford Moore Stadium.

Tommy Metthe/Abilene Reporter-News

At first glance, one wouldn’t expect Amarillo High football coach Mel Maxfield’s program to produce quarterbacks that fit the needs of most college programs.

Maxfield employs a run-based wing-T scheme, but McMurry has managed to fit two of his former players into the Air Raid offense implemented under former coach Hal Mumme.

Jake Mullin, who played for Maxfield at Burleson, left McMurry last year as a four-year starter and holder of 22 school passing records. Freshman Gabe Rodriguez, who helped Amarillo High to the third round of the playoffs last year, has started the last three games for the War Hawks and has passed for 1,213 yards and 18 touchdowns.

One thing both players have in common, first-year McMurry coach Mason Miller said, is the athletic ability to play at the college level.

“Coach Maxfield obviously is a great coach who knows who the best player is and put him in that position to play quarterback,” said Miller, who worked with Mullin as McMurry’s offensive coordinator the last two seasons. “They’re both competitors, which is obviously something Coach Maxfield instilled in them and saw in them regardless. He felt they were competitors to begin with.

“I don’t know that I ever saw Jake throw a ball on a consistent basis in the wing-T. I saw Gabe throw maybe three balls and decided that we needed to sign him just because of the arm strength. (Maxfield) does a great job. I know this much — if he ever tells me to take another one, I’m going to take him.”

Maxfield, who is in his fourth season at Amarillo High, said Mullin and Rodriguez also possess the intangible qualities, such as leadership and unselfishness, that he looks for in a quarterback.

“They’re a little bit different in some ways, but the one way they were the same is they were very coachable,” Maxfield said. “They were great leaders with their teammates and they had the ability to make plays. I think regardless of what offense you’re in — whether it’s wishbone, Air Raid or wing-T — that’s what you look for, a guy who can lead and make plays. Both of those guys certainly fit that mold.

“We still put a premium on team success over individual stats. Both of those guys bought into that and put our teams in position to win games.”

Rodriguez said such an approach was necessary, if not mandatory, in Maxfield’s program.

“Playing the wing-T, you’ve got to be selfless, not selfish,” Rodriguez said. “(Maxfield) teaches us to win. We’ve got to work hard every day and we’ll be successful at whatever we do. I think that’s why I’m being successful here.”

Maxfield said success in college was due more to the players themselves than any training he provided.

“Both kids always threw good footballs,” he said. “Our quarterback training is nothing scientific, but we do work on it. We’ve taken the principles of what we’ve learned from Dick Winder and Alan Wartes over the years and tried to apply it to our guys.

“Both of them had live arms throwing the football. It fit our scheme well. It allowed us to expand our scheme to a degree. We probably expanded it a little bit more with Gabe than we did with Jake, but that was because our personnel was a little bit different in some positions.”

Miller said it also helped that both Rodriguez and Mullin came to McMurry with a solid understanding of the game.

“I don’t think our offense is very complicated to begin with,” Miller said. “They’re both students of the game. Gabe most certainly was when he arrived. I was shocked at the level of knowledge he had about what we were doing even though he didn’t play in that kind of system in high school.

“The other thing they both kind of have, especially Gabe, is they’re hard on themselves. They challenge themselves. I didn’t have to say a whole lot to him at halftime (of the Angelo State game). He knew he wasn’t playing very well and he could do better if he calmed down and played, and he did.”

One major difference is that Mullin, who played two seasons of baseball at McMurry before joining the football team in 2009, was older when he won the quarterback job. Rodriguez has had to adjust to college life and football at the same time.

“It’s a big transition, but I like it,” Rodriguez said. “It’s more of a job and that’s what I like to do. I like to play football. It’s more of a job, but I’ve got to do what I love to do and that’s play football.”

Maxfield said it’s no surprise that his former players have done well in college.

“Gabe’s always been pretty serious,” he said. “He’s well grounded. He’s goal driven and stays focused on things. His success is not a surprise to me. I knew if you give him a couple of weeks in that kind of offense that he’d pick it up.

“Both of those kids had good football savvy. Jake’s senior year, he led Burleson to its only 5A district championship. His leadership came out in the district championship game, when he led the team 98 yards with two minutes left to get the win and came up huge with some big-time throws.”